English

By Yin Lei

China's gross domestic product (GDP) for the first half of 2018 reached RMB 41.8961 trillion, up by 6.8 percent year-on-year, an update by the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

In the first and second quarters of 2018, its economy respectively expanded by 6.8 percent and 6.7 percent year-on-year.

From January to June, the output in China's primary, secondary and tertiary sectors increased by 3.2 percent, 6.1 percent and 7.6 percent to RMB 2.2087 trillion, RMB 16.9299 trillion and RMB 22.7576 trillion respectively.

Its economic structure saw further improvements during this period. The share of the tertiary sector in China's GDP went up by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year to 54.3 percent, 13.9 percentage points higher than the secondary sector.

Industrial output, covering enterprises with an annual revenue of over RMB 20 million from their principal businesses, grew by 6.7 percent year-on-year in real terms, down by 0.1 percentage point from the first quarter. In June, this value was up by 6.0 percent.

From January to May, their profits climbed by 16.5 percent year-on-year to RMB 2.7298 trillion.

The service sector developed fast for the past six months, with the index of the national services production up by 8.0 percent year-on-year and the service companies seeing a 13.3 percent increase in their revenues.

The income and consumption of the Chinese people sustained steady growths. 

Per capita disposable income increased by 8.7 percent in nominal terms and 6.6 percent in real terms to RMB 14,063. Per capita consumption was up by 8.8 percent in nominal terms and 6.7 percent in real terms to RMB 9,609.

From January to June, the total sales of consumer goods grew by 9.4 percent year-on-year to RMB 18 trillion.

Investments in fixed assets increased by 6.0 percent year-on-year, lower by 1.5 percentage points than in the first quarter. The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors respectively saw an increase of 13.5 percent, 3.8 percent and 6.8 percent in such investments. 

Exports went up by 4.9 percent to RMB 7.512 trillion, and imports grew by 11.5 percent to RMB 6.61 trillion, resulting in a trade surplus of RMB 901.3 billion, 26.7 percent less than that for the same period in 2017.